We sought out ‘stories of hope’ from people in the affected areas, selecting 34 stories from many hours of footage, and editing them into Web movies and 275 15 second segments, 141 in Japanese and 134 in English.We posted movies on Ganbatte365.jp, YouTube and an iPhone app, while segments were broadcast on Digital outdoor screens, focusing on two heavily trafficked areas of Tokyo and Osaka, where they were exposed 100x each day, supplemented by front window screens in 300 convenience stores in Tokyo.

This was inside-out exposure of the spirit of hope in Tohoku.

We followed with an outside-in phase, seeking ‘messages of hope’ from around the World. Blogs and Social Media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram elicited responses that were translated and shared on the Web and on Digital screens, which included three sites in Tohoku, as well as screens in Hong Kong, Vancouver and New York.

We reached about 4.5m people weekly through Digital Outdoor, then 12m globally. We could not measure Web or Social Media exposure, but know that one Tweet was re-tweeted by 87 people to 1.59m followers outside of Japan.We paid exactly $24.95 for vast Digital Outdoor exposure, buying a belt at the American Eagle store in Times Square to have our content appear every 5 minutes on their big screen on the anniversary of the disaster.Our insight was correct. Media owners cared enough to value authentic content.And the People of Tohoku knew they were not alone.